Title: Making Up (London Celebrities #3)

Author: Lucy Parker

Genre / Themes: Romance / Show business

Release date: 28 May 2018 

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Goodreads

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My rating: 4 Stars

Blurb 

Once upon a time, circus artist Trix Lane was the best around. Her spark vanished with her confidence, though, and reclaiming either has proved…difficult. So when the star of The Festival of Masks is nixed and Trix is unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, it’s exactly the push she needs. But the joy over her sudden elevation in status is cut short by a new hire on the makeup team.

Leo Magasiva: disgraced wizard of special effects. He of the beautiful voice and impressive beard. Complete dickhead and—in an unexpected twist—an enragingly good kisser. 

To Leo, something about Trix is…different. Lovely. Beautiful, even though the pint-size, pink-haired former bane of his existence still spends most of her waking hours working to annoy him. They’ve barely been able to spend two minutes together for years, and now he can’t get enough of her. On stage. At home. In his bed.

When it comes to commitment, Trix has been there, done that, never wants to do it again. Leo’s this close to the job of a lifetime, which would take him away from London—and from Trix. Their past is a constant barrier between them.

It seems hopeless.

Utterly impossible. 

And yet…

This is a second-chance enemies to lovers story. I liked the tension between the MCs and how they came together, first just as colleagues working on the same project, then as roommates and finally as lovers.

Trix is a great heroine, we get to meet her in the aftermath of her escape from a verbally abusive and manipulative relationship. We see the whole process of her going back to herself, regaining her confidence and professional ambition, re-learning to trust her judgement and to rely/be more open with her friends. It was a difficult journey that i found so easy to relate to at times - she had panic attacks and anxiety peaks, she made mistakes at work and it too her a long while to finally being able to discuss her issues with a psychologist. And in the midst of this painful journey back to herself, she fell in love

Leo too, was at a bad place when they met - he was dealing with some heavy stuff, professional problems, personal issues with his sister (two of them made their own family). They were like archnemesis for years after being very close (and in love with each other) in school due to a misunderstand caused by someone else. While I usually hate misunderstandings as the root of the conflict in romance, it worked for me here because it happened when they were teenagers and they both overreacted.

I liked Trix and Leo together, the support, the admiration for what the other can do professionally. It was so important, it made all the difference from her previous relationship.

Now, there were two scenes that I found unpleasant and which affected my overall enjhoyment of the story. Minor spoiler ahead!

The first is the opening scene where a fellow performer vomits all over the heroine and then they proceed to talk with a couple of people, including the hero, for a while before they get the chance to shower. It was weird and yucky, definitely felt unnecessarily prolonged.

While I found this scene simply annoying, the other one was more problematic. The heroine woke up to the hero painting/applying make-up to her body while she was still asleep. It was not sexual for either of them but it made me feel uncomfortable. She woke up worried, disoriented, not knowing what as happening and the hero not seeing anything wrong about his action was not Okay for me.

I absolutely loved the epilogue - we get a glimpse of Trix and Leo as a couple a few years down the road and it was perfect for them and made me so happy.

Despite the abovementioned two troubling scenes, I quite enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. It was a touching story about dealing with manipulation, self-doubt and leasrnng to trust yourself and others again.